


The Boughs Unbowed

by mimsical



Series: 2020 Exchanges, Bangs, and Challenges [2]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Animal Transformation, Birds, Fairy Tale Logic, Kaishin Big Bang 2020 (Meitantei Conan), M/M, Magic, Very Bad Research Skills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25632952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimsical/pseuds/mimsical
Summary: An unfortunate mishap with a gem transforms Kaito into a bird, leaving him with no choice but to rely on Kudou Shin'ichi for help.
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Series: 2020 Exchanges, Bangs, and Challenges [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856839
Comments: 32
Kudos: 302
Collections: kaishinbigbang 2020





	The Boughs Unbowed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Kaishin Reverse Bang for a lovely painting created by [betnawr.](https://betnawr.tumblr.com/)

Kuroba Kaito was having a really weird night.

To begin with, the heist. The exhibit had been very avant garde, held outdoors despite the risk of unfavorable weather, only up for a few days as some kind of statement on transience. Honestly, Kaito didn't really understand all of it, and he was really only there for the — heh — crowning jewel of the event.

The lead artist of the collective putting the show on had, as the centerpiece to her work, displayed an old sterling ring that had once belonged to her great-grandmother. Really, it hadn't been likely that Kaito would get anything out of it, as the gem wasn't exactly big enough to be a secret doublet, but he'd been interested in some of the history behind the ring, and the rumors that there had been tragedy in its past — though that could just have been the artist stirring up interest in the show. Regardless, he went, and his attendance brought yet more attention to the artists, so he figured it was a net win for them.

Besides, if he hadn't stolen the ring, someone else probably would have, with it just hanging out in the center of an out-of-doors art show like that. At least he was practically guaranteed to return it.

The heist itself had been simple, if very fun. Part of the show involved long pieces of irregularly sized gauzy fabrics dangling at different heights. Projecting shadows onto them until Inspector Nakamori practically foamed at the mouth had truly been the highlight of his week.

Everything had been _fine_ , ordinary, even, until he got away from the show and into the park across the street. He had crouched down out of sight amid some shrubs and taken the ring out, since he had begun the heist at moon rise but hadn't gotten enough direct moonlight until that moment to check the stone, and then...

Then everything had gotten very weird.

There had been a ringing silence, and then a _pop!_ like his eardrums had been clogged, and then Kaito was flailing against something heavy and suffocating that was pinning him down. It was dark, and though he could still almost-stand and try to squirm free, the tarp or cloth or _something_ weighing him down was too heavy to move easily, and his hands felt clumsy and stiff when he tried to use his arms. It took him several long minutes of determined wiggling to escape out through a narrow gap in the material, at which point he realized two things.

The first was that, despite thinking he still had the ring, he must have dropped it at some point.

The second was that the thing he had fought his way free of was, of all things, clothing.

Kaito stared at the loosely piled clothes on the ground. It was... it was _his_ clothes, his uniform, in fact, but Kaito didn't _feel_ naked. He was very cozy, really, and the night wasn't exactly a hot one. He could feel the ground sinking in under his bare toes, though, and that was definitely weird. He hopped back awkwardly, trying to get a better look at why the absolute hell his clothes were suddenly twenty times his size and more importantly _empty_ , and nearly toppled himself over when he stuck his arm out for balance.

When he spun, though, there was nothing there for him to have run into other than gargantuanly tall plant life, but that wasn't close enough to his body to have pushed him so off balance like that. With a feeling of deep, suspicious dread, he snuck a glance down at his body, already suspecting that maybe — just maybe — the ring had decided for whatever stupid magical reason to shrink him.

And then Kaito nearly fell on his face again, because he wasn't naked, or a very tiny human, because apparently he wasn't human at all.

His entire body, other than some very scaly looking toes, was covered in dark feathers.

Gods, how had he not realized something was obviously wrong? Now that he was paying attention, he could tell that his vision was split in two, for one thing. He had to cock his head to the side to get a look at anything directly in front of him, and his arms — no wonder he'd almost fallen, because his arms were, actually, wings, and he'd probably accidentally gotten himself with, what, wind resistance? That seemed likely, at least.

The gem... Maybe it was still inside his clothes. That would make sense, really. There was no way he could have kept ahold of it if he had undergone some kind of absolutely bizarre magical transformation. Why did all the weirdest shit always happen to him?

He eyed the collar of his shirt suspiciously. He wasn't sure he could get back in and out without hurting something or bending a feather in a way that sounded painful, or at least uncomfortable. He might need it to be able to transform back, though.

Then, from over the gentle curvature of the park came a distant, tinkling laugh that Kaito would've recognized anywhere.

_Akako._

While she wasn't his first choice of people to rely on, she really had become more relaxed over time, and during the past few months they'd even managed something like genuine friendliness. This was some magic bullshit that he was experiencing, and that was her realm of expertise.

Assuming she hadn't had anything to do with this happening to him — and Kaito didn't _think_ that was the case, even with her turning up near his heist — she was probably his best bet at getting this reversed fast.

Would she be able to tell it was him? Kaito had always suspected she had some kind of trick along the lines of seeing auras, but he had no idea how such a thing would work, or whether it was on all the time as opposed to her having to actively choose to use it.

Which meant there was every chance that she wouldn’t recognize him at all, and would just see him as a regular bird.

So, he would need proof of his identity.

Resting innocently on the earth, half hidden under the fallen drape of his sleeve, was his monocle. Out of everything close at hand with which he could show her who he was, that one was probably the easiest for him to carry if he was a bird. She didn't sound too far away. He could probably hold it in his talons and fly over. Trying to carry it in his beak and walk towards her sounded like a recipe for frustration and risking somebody spotting him with the monocle before he reached her. How hard could flying be? He already had a very solid grasp on the physics of aerodynamics and had been gliding expertly for the last few years. Kaito felt relatively confident that he could pull this off.

He stretched out his wingspan again and craned his head around to run his beak through his feathers. Though it was hard to tell without the light of day, he was pretty sure his feathers were a stark black rather than some other dark color. A crow, maybe? Nothing flashy, which was good. He didn't want to draw attention by being some kind of exotic bird.

He awkwardly pecked at the monocle until he was able to drag it out from under his sleeve by the chain. On second thought, he wasn't sure that he would be able to hold it in his talons if he had to take off flying from the ground. He didn't feel very confident in his ability to gain higher grounds in order to be able to glide though, so he would need the right balance to be able to propel himself upward. It was a lucky thing for him that the chain was thin enough to be able to hold easily, but he didn't think it had ever felt so heavy before.

Well. It was a lucky thing that he had had a lot of practice gliding while carrying something heavy that threw off his balance.

He had to delicately hold the chain in his mouth — his beak — near the actual eyepiece in order to get a good grip on it. This left the rest of the chain and the charm to drag on the ground, but hopefully once he was in the air that wouldn't matter too much.

Then, all that was left to do was for him to mentally cross his fingers before taking a few hopping steps, beating his wings, and trying to take off.

Kaito experienced three exhilarating seconds of actual flight before promptly crashing back into the ground. He was uninjured, other than feeling a little bruised in his confidence, and thought for a minute before trying again.

This time he had a little more success. By beating his wings rather clumsily and frantically, he managed to get himself high enough off the ground to catch an updraft that allowed him to soar like a shot across the park. There! Over by the lamppost was Akako, facing away from him as she gazed towards the art show where he had held his heist. So, she must have just come to spectate. That was fine. He just had to ride this breeze across the path, and then over her head, where he could bank to land on an uninterrupted stretch of grass. She would surely notice a bird flying just centimeters over her head.

The most important thing to do would be to maintain his altitude, and Kaito had had a lot of practice doing that.

Except — shit — between him and Akako was Kudou Shin'ichi, and he was staring directly at Kaito.

The breeze changed. It tried to send him careening off to the left, away from Akako. Kaito corrected automatically, reaching for the next updraft — oh, hell, he had to actually flap his wings — why was the air so still here?

Kaito tried frantically to correct course again, but he'd forgotten entirely to account for the whole tail situation, and the wings were just such a different shape than he was used to managing, _shit._

He careened head-on into Kudou, tumbled rather ungracefully to the ground, and dropped the stupid monocle when he opened his mouth and let out a loud _caw!_ of surprise.

Kaito was just grateful he hadn't injured anything. He knew from experience that birds were delicately built and didn't do well in sudden falls.

"Well, hello," said Kudou's voice from the lofty height of human-sized. "Are you one of KID's birds?"

He didn't say it particularly loudly, at least, but Kaito still bristled. He cawed in frustration and hopped forward to peck at the monocle again, but Kudou was crouching down and reaching for it with deft fingers and an opposable thumb. Kudou grasped the eyepiece just as Kaito managed a good grip on the chain.

They stared each other down. Kaito tugged ineffectually.

"He has to be nearby, doesn't he?" Kudou speculated, using approximately zero force to keep ahold of the monocle. "Are you taking this to him? Or are you hiding it?" His intelligent gaze scanned the area behind Kaito in one swift glance. Kaito tugged harder and managed to make his bill ache.

He could peck him. That would make him drop it, maybe, if he didn't just yank his hand back fast enough to avoid him entirely. Fuck. Kaito was so screwed. Just past Kudou, he could see Akako, who had looked over when he had made a racket.

But if he approached her right now, Kudou would assume she was an accomplice. He didn't want to get her arrested; she was his best hope at getting out of this mess at all.

"I didn't know KID had branched out into different kinds of birds," Kudou continued. He gently pulled on the monocle and some of the chain slid through Kaito's beak. He redoubled his grip and flapped his wings to try and get some power going to no avail. "Crows are supposed to be really smart; I suppose it makes sense."

No, it didn't make sense. KID wasn't branching out into crows. KID _was_ a goddamn crow. What even was Kaito's life??

Akako was just standing there, apparently hiding laughter behind her hand. Was she seriously not going to help? Kaito could abandon the monocle. He probably should; he had extras. Let Kudou take it, go hide nearby and then go bug Akako after, assuming she didn't decide to wander off.

But Kudou would probably go find his things, and Kaito really didn't want to sacrifice yet another burner cell to the police. They weren't exactly easy to acquire without a lot of fake paperwork.

"Please don't peck me." Kudou's other hand intruded. "Nice bird. Let go of the shiny thing and let's go find KID together, okay? I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

Was Kaito really being baby-talked right now? He immediately decided he hated it and eyed Kudou's hovering hand. He would deserve it if Kaito pecked him. It wasn't like it would actually injure him, and it would make Kaito feel better.

"Ouch! What the hell." Kudou yanked his hands back protectively, taking the monocle with him. "Bad crow. Did he train you to do that, or do you just have no manners naturally?"

It's a cultivated skill, Kaito thought snidely. Aloud, all he said was another irritable caw.

"Okay, fine. Be that way." Kudou stood up to his horrifyingly looming height. "I'm going to go hunt down a stupid thief, and you can be a stupid bird for all I care."

And Kudou began walking away, shit shit shit, and Akako was still standing there laughing at him.

Kaito hated his freaking life.

He chased after Kudou, half-hopping and half-flapping. This was so undignified. Detectives were supposed to chase him, not the other way around. Kaito considered trying to grab his shoelace and untie his shoe, but the risk of getting kicked accidentally seemed too high. Why did birds have to be so fragile, why couldn't the gem have turned him into something sturdy? Kaito wouldn't have minded being a goat. Even a deer would've been better.

"Oh, are you following me now?" Apparently Kudou was feeling grumpy too. Kaito only felt a tiny bit bad for having pecked him. "If KID can hear this, I hope he knows that distracting me with a bird is a really shitty plan."

Well, fuck you too, Meitantei.

* * *

Kudou found the pile of discarded clothes only a few minutes later. Had Kaito been human, he would have heaved the biggest sigh of annoyance. Instead, he perched on a nearby rock while Kudou sorted through his things with a wrinkle between his eyebrows. Kaito might almost say he looked concerned.

...If he was, that was probably fair. Kaito's socks and underwear were in that pile, after all. Along with his favorite set of lockpicks, crap.

Notably, though, was the absence of —

"No gem," Kudou noted, settling back onto his heels. "So he must be around here somewhere. It doesn't look like he abandoned his things willingly, or intentionally. He must be planning to come back for them."

"And I'm sure he will," said a syrupy voice from behind him.

Kaito loudly cawed something that actually managed to sound like her name. Akako giggled like a creep with a thing for her friends being unexpectedly transformed, hand over her mouth.

"Uhhh," said Kudou, which was all around an entirely fair response to anything Akako did. "KID…? Is that you?"

What. No.

Akako laughed harder. "Oh, no," she said. "His tricks are as easy to pull apart as cotton candy. I prefer the kind of magic with weight and substance."

Wow, so, both of them were dead to him now. A surprising but not unlikely development. Kaito's life was suffering.

Her gaze shifted to Kaito, and her smile stretched wider. "I think Kaitou KID-san has gotten himself into quite a pickle, though."

Kudou looked, too, but he looked past Kaito at the clothes still on the ground. "Yes, well, I really can't discuss that with—"

"I know how to fix it," she said, casually talking right over him. "Shall I do you a favor, KID-san? I won't even name a price for it. I'm sure being able to hold this over your head for the rest of our acquaintanceship will be reward enough for me."

Damn it. Kaito hated making deals with her, and this rankled, even if he'd been planning to seek her out anyway. He realized that he'd unconsciously made his feathers fluff up across his body and tried to relax them to no avail.

What the hell was she thinking? Was she _trying_ to expose him?

Akako pressed her palms together and shut her eyes, a wrinkle of concentration creasing her forehead. Kaito craned his tiny head forward hopefully. Was she going to — ?

She was. Akako opened her eyes, and, glowing with faint light, she blew a kiss towards Kaito.

To his mild alarm, an actual kiss of magic light jetted across the distance and smacked him dead center between his eyes. He squawked loudly in protest — only to have his words emerge loud and clear.

“What the actual fuck was that? What are you playing at, witch?!”

Kudou twisted his neck to stare at Kaito in shock. Kaito himself briefly fell into stunned silence before finding his renewed voice once again. “You … you couldn’t just reverse it instead? Is it some sort of weird puzzle-curse I have to solve myself?”

Akako was hiding a giggle behind her hand again, probably at their utter bewilderment. “Oh, I can’t break _that_. It’s a curse as old as story itself. But you have all the components to break it if you stick with, um,” she glanced at Kudou for an appraising moment, “Kudou-san here, I can promise you that.”

This seemed to snap Kudou out of his staring contest with the side of Kaito’s head. He shook his head as though emerging from underwater and took an uncertain step in Akako’s direction. “I…. if this is a trick, it’s not a very good one. Talking animals, come on, nobody over the age of five would fall for that.”

“Oh, dear,” Akako said, clearly not at all repentant. “You’re going to have your hands full with this one! Well, I’ll leave you to it. It’d be a shame if I got in the way, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’m really going to need you to stay put,” Kudou said, one hand inching towards a pocket.

Akako pulled out that same magic broom she’d once used to bail him out of a tight spot from somewhere in the folds of her dress. “Oh, no, I'm afraid that won’t be possible. Have a good evening.”

And with that she perched sideways on her broom and sailed off into the sky, waving all the while.

And that left Kaito alone with a dumbstruck Kudou.

“You won’t find any wires,” Kaito said when he made moves to start searching. “She’s really just like that.”

Kudou turned suspicious eyes on him. “This is stupid,” he muttered. “Even crows aren’t smart enough to memorize this many words.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Kaito hopped from his perch and glided to the mess of his abandoned clothes. “So, I’ll explain all this if you do me a favor.”

“A favor for a bird,” Kudou said, apparently unable to help himself, but he gamely crouched down again. “What is it?”

Kaito hoped the avian body language would disguise his sheepish wince. “Help me hide my clothes?”

* * *

It took some cajoling and a promise to let him play with the card gun, but Kudou finally acquiesced to bring Kaito and his things back to his house. The only hiccup was when he shook out the suit and discovered no gem buried inside.

Kaito swore up and down that he hadn’t hidden it somewhere else, and eventually Kudou reluctantly agreed to leave it alone for the time being. After a brief check in with the police while Kaito pretended to act like an ordinary bird, they were off.

Which was how Kaito found himself on Kudou’s computer desk, trying to prod him into helping Kaito research what it would take to turn him back human.

“Come _on,_ Meitantei. I’m obviously not a regular bird. Aren’t you at least curious to figure out how it happened?” It still felt very disconcerting to open a beak and have fluid Japanese emerge from it.

Kudou’s face was a mask of suspicion. “Even if magic is real, it’s highly suspect evidence if it’s coming from KID. From you, if a literal crow is to be believed.”

“Seriously?” Kaito hopped from foot to foot impatiently. “Okay, okay. Ask me — some stuff, I don’t know. We’ve gotten into plenty of meesses together, haven’t we?”

Kudou drummed his fingers on the desk. “Fine, I’ll bite.” He paused for a moment, concentrating. “What was in the Iron Tanuki?”

“The dog. Lupin,” Kaito replied immediately. “That safe tried to kill us both. Remember the axe?”

Kudou looked, if anything, even more annoyed by this response. “Yeah, I remember. What about… what was the kanji on the sign that you distorted on the Purple Nail heist?”

“Dog,” Kaito said. “I was blocking the dot in dog.”

Kudou sighed heavily. “Correct.”

He looked so glum that Kaito felt obliged to say something. “Is it really such a bad thing, if magic is real?”

“It’s not that, exactly.” A scowl began to creep back onto his face. “It’s just — if the supernatural is real, then I owe Hatorri — Hattori Heiji from Osaka, you remember? — Right. So I owe him 5,000 yen now.”

It was hard to laugh as a bird, but Kaito managed a simulation of it, bobbing his head and making cackling noises. “Sucks to be a skeptic. An open mind will get you much farther.”

Kudou rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever decide to become a master thief. So, what am I supposed to be researching, anyway?”

Kaito let him get away with changing the subject. “Anything to do with the gem — anecdotes, history, etc. I looked into it pretty thoroughly, so I don’t know how much is left to find there, though. Stories of people who turn into animals, especially ones who are cursed or birds. Stories about animal transformation from the place the gem was mined. There’s a whole mythical gem questionnaire regimen.”

Kudou finally booted up his laptop. “Is there? Are you looking for something with mythos attached, then?”

“You’ll never get me to tell, officer.” Katio cocked his head to peer at the computer screen. The bright glow mixed with the distorted colors made his brain hurt.

Though Kaito didn’t turn his head to look, judging by tone of voice, he was pretty sure Kudou was rolling his eyes. “Riiiight. Give me a search term already, KID.”

Kaito gave up on trying to understand the screen and mentally settled in for a long night. “Try starting with bird women.”

* * *

Thirty minutes into the Western children's movie based on _Swan Lake_ and Kaito was ready to throw in the towel. “You know in the original Odette’s curse is never broken because of the Prince’s mistake, right?”

“But we’re not looking to keep you as a crow forever,” Kudou said absently, gaze fixed on the screen. “We’re trying to find _solutions.”_

“And you think they’re hiding _here?_ I think this version is so tame that they don’t even go for true love’s kiss.”

Kudou looked up at that, frowning, and Kaito hastily backpedaled. “But most old stories are more, uh, grisly than even that, you know?”

“Sure,” Kudou said, sounding distracted. “So in the original version, what, she just stays a swan forever?”

“Uh, I don’t know. My mother took me to a production when I was like, eleven? While we were on vacation. I think maybe she died? Some versions go all in on the parts about the moonlight, though, I think.” Kaito resettled his feathers before craning his head all the way around to tuck an errant feather back into place. Much better. “But A — the witch, she said it had to do with you. I don’t think I’ll conveniently transform back come dawn.”

“No, that’d be too easy,” Kudou agreed, finally pausing the film. “Did you research where the gem was mined before the heist? I’m not seeing anything readily online.” He gestured to his phone, which he’d had open in his lap while the movie had run in the background.

“Oh, right, yeah. Sorry, I didn’t realize that’s what you were looking at. It’s from here in Japan.”

“So, a Russian story probably won’t help.” Kudou closed the window on his laptop with a decisive click. “All that immediately comes to mind is cranes, for me.”

“Me too. It’s the most obvious parallel, anyway. That one usually goes that the girl was secretly a bird all along, right?”

“Right, yeah.” Kudou rattled off another search on his keyboard. “And she’s married the guy because he saved her life. I hope we don’t have to get married. I usually prefer at least five dates first.”

It took Kaito a minute to process, but then he was laughing again. “Oh, so how many ex-wives are you hiding, then? Twelve? — anyway, I don’t think we can claim you saved my life.”

“Your freedom, maybe, if you turned back on your own and the police had gotten something identifying out of your things.”

Kaito winced. “Does indirectly count? I don’t think they’d get anything out of my stuff, but — well, people are trying to kill me, you know.”

“So I’d guessed,” Kudou murmured, leaning in closer to the screen to squint at it.

Kaito watched him read for a minute, filled with rising amusement. “Kudou…”

“Hm?”

“Do you need glasses?”

Kudou scowled ferociously. “No.”

“...Are you sure about that.” Kaito was struggling to keep the laughter internal as Kudou leaned in even closer to the screen. “Is it because of Conan? Is that why you won’t admit it? You know contact lenses exist, right?”

“Shut _up,_ KID,” Kudou groused. “I have an appointment with one doctor already, I don’t need another with you.”

Kaito did laugh at that, reveling in the mildly horrified look Kudou shot him when he cocked his head back and let the very human-sounding laughter pour from his very avian throat. “Sure thing, tantei-kun. I’m sure you have it all under control. Shall I keep my backseat driving to myself, then?”

“Are you even capable of that? Because normally you just kick everyone out of the driver’s seat and then go careening off a cliff while everyone screams and tries to wrestle the wheel back from you.”

Kaito cackled his best maniac with a hang-glider cackle, just to see Kudou cringe over it again.

* * *

“I think there might be something there,” Kaito said slowly. “A favor for a favor, protection for — something the principal character wants?”

They were pouring over old variants of crane women tales, debating if any of it applied to Kaito’s situation, having given up on the Swan Lake in favor of something more geographically accurate. Kudou looked up from the screen with a frown.

“But it’s not like I’m a lonely rural farmer in need of a wife,” he said. “I would need to, what, want something? In general, or more specifically from you?”

Kaito clicked his beak as he thought. “Sure, yeah, it’s not _clearly_ applicable, but I still think there’s something there worth testing. It’s not like we’ve been given reason to think something bad will happen if we try and it doesn’t work.”

“I guess, yeah.” Kudou turned in his chair, abandoning his computer and staring off into the middle distance. “So, what. Something I want from you?”

“I’m still thinking of it as a favor.” Kaito hopped around a discarded pen and sized up the computer monitor, wondering if he could summit it without puncturing it. “If that helps, I mean. Something you could want me to do? Other than turn myself in, obviously.”

“If only it were so easy,” Kudou said dryly. His gaze drifted around the room as he considered. It. “You could… teach me to hang-glide? It’s kind of flashy, but it seems like you find it useful.”

Kaito tried to shrug and ended up bobbing his head instead. “Sure, why not? Though, can’t you already paraglide?”

Even as he said the words, he knew it wasn’t working. There wasn’t the slightest hint of the weird magic-tingles he usually got around that type of thing, not to mention that he was, well, still a crow.

“Are you sure you picked a decent favor? Maybe it has to be more significant,” Kaito suggested.

“I’m _trying,”_ Kudou snapped. “I’m just — not really coming up with anything. It’s not like — like I really have anything major in my life I need help with. And of — ” He turned in his chair all at once to focus back on his laptop, opening it to a new screen and beginning to type. “Here, I’m writing down all our ideas. I just don’t particularly need anything, so there’s nothing for me to want, either.”

Kaito eyed him out of his left eye. “I...don’t think that’s how that works? But we can… come back to it later and see if you’ve thought of a better favor.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kudou was leaning on one elbow, hand muffling his voice and hiding part of his face. He was… just acting really weird. Kaito decided to be lenient and not press him on it. Maybe he’d thought of something, but it was embarrassing, and he had to work up to it? Kaito was usually pretty good at reading people, but this conversation had been rather baffling. Kaito’s mind, however, insisted on trying to guess what could possibly be so hard to spit out, so he missed the next thing Kudou said while trying to block the phrase “moral support for vasectomy appointment” out of his mind.

“Sorry, what?” he asked, shaking his head to clear it.

“I said,” Kudou repeated, “do you want to look at other volcanic regions for human transformation stories?”

“Oh, right. Sure, yeah.”

They dug into more stories, and despite the rather stressful feelings that came along with involuntary magical transformation, Kaito found he was having fun. It wasn’t exactly a revelation that he liked spending time with Kudou, but it had been a while since they had spent any significant length of time in each other’s company. Kudou came to barely half the heists he’d attended as Conan, and he hadn’t attended all that many in the first place.

Anyway, it was just nice to have that camaraderie back.

Kaito decided that he would probably have more luck trying to interpret the computer screen from a better angle and sized up the desk chair. He was pretty sure the back would be high enough to stand on — or more accurately, to perch on. This time, though, he wouldn’t have the benefit of being able to just glide from the high ground. He’d have to achieve lift without falling off the desk and majorly injuring himself.

“Incoming!” he warned, spreading his wings and beginning to flap, and, well. It _would’ve_ worked (probably) if Kudou hadn’t been so startled. His hands went up in instinctive self-defense, and Kaito had to abruptly change plans and try to land on his thumb instead.

Unfortunately, crows were heavier than doves, and Kudou had to use his other hand to help catch Kaito and keep from dropping him. Kaito was — unharmed. His heart was beating wildly, and Kudou’s hands felt huge where they were literally cradling his entire body, but — but he was okay. Embarrassed, sure, but — he trusted Kudou not to be careless with his body — or, okay, phrased less suggestively than that, but the concept was there.

And Kudou was still staring at him, wide-eyed and startled, frozen in place.

Kaito found his voice. “...Sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t trying to surprise you.”

Kudou opened and closed his mouth silently once before replying. “What _were_ you trying to do?”

“Uh, perch on your chair?”

Kudou turned to eye it. “I feel like I’d end up knocking you off.”

“That…” Kaito considered the matter. “That’s a fair point,” he concluded.

Kudou huffed out a breath, half sigh and half laugh. “Don’t you ever think anything through?” But he was lifting Kaito anyways and placing him very carefully against his shoulder. Kaito hopped out of his hands with only the briefest hesitation and settled in delicately.

“Thanks,” he said, conscious of his volume in such close proximity to Kudou’s ear.

“Will that work?” Kaito didn’t think he was imagining the thread of hesitation running through Kudou’s voice.

Careful of his talons, Kaito shuffled into a good position, tucking in closer to his neck. “I think so,” he replied, and then again, “Thanks.”

“It’s no trouble,” Kudou said, slowly turning back to the computer. “Just warn me next time you want to go for a flight.”

Kaito laughed briefly, hyper conscious of the exposed skin of Kudou’s neck and trying not to brush against it. Get a grip, he told himself firmly. He had to cock his head to the side to get a look at the screen, but some of the shapes on it slowly coalesced into something more legible.

“I’m looking into anthropology articles.” Kudou indicated the site with a quick gesture of his other arm. Kaito could feel him trying to keep his shoulder still. “Even if the stone is newer — and hey, are you sure it’s the stone and not the whole ring or the metal?”

Kaito considered this, “I guess not,” he said slowly. “I’m just — used to magic being about the stone, not the object. Even in things clearly meant to be talismanic.”

He could almost hear Kudou filing that away into a mental “KID facts” folder. “Just how many magic gems are there, exactly? There can’t be _that_ many — people would notice.”

“You’re technically correct,” Kaito agreed. “I’ve only encountered two others and heard of a third. Plus one of the ones I encountered was — like a dead battery? Used up. Anyway, my point is this is my business, learning about weird gemstones. Most people never encounter any at all.”

Kudou acquiesced to this with a one-sided shrug. “And if rich people like the Suzukis keep buying up all the interesting ones…”

“Yeah, exactly. It narrows the pool significantly. Then all that’s left are idiots and people smart enough to keep their mouths shut about their magic necklace.”

“Interesting,” Kudou said. “Very interesting. So what about people who use magic? Like that girl we met. How many of them have you seen?”

“Oh, just the one. Two if you count meeting the grand-daughter of a recently deceased witch, but I don’t.” Kaito twisted his head around and began trying to preen his feathers back into some semblance of order after his semi-crash landing. He wished he’d brought his doves with him. He had no doubt they’d get him presentable in five seconds flat.

“Was that the one with the drained gem?”

“That’s the one,” Kaito confirmed. He’d enjoyed that heist. The young grand-daughter had not been at all taken with his charms and had only agreed to let him see the stone if she was there to supervise the entire time. Kaito had walked her through checking it in the moonlight and had departed not at all surprised when it proved itself to not be Pandora. “The girl we met at the park… well, she’s weird, but I’m pretty sure she isn’t malicious.” Anymore, he finished silently. “She’s from a long line of witches. Her daughters, if she has any, will inherit the craft. I don’t really understand all the details, but she has ‘red magic’ and is called a red witch. We didn’t used to get along, but she made friends with some better people,” like Aoko, “and mellowed out a bit.”

Kudou made an interested humming noise. “I suppose I shouldn’t make note of the fact that you clearly know her from your regular life?”

Kaito very gently thwacked him with a wing. “I’d appreciate that, yes.”

“Then I’ll ask about your magic stones, instead.” On the computer screen, Kudou had pulled up an image of the ring that had gotten Kaito into this mess. “You said you’d encountered two, making this the third.”

“Yep.”

“So that fourth one you’ve only heard of…”

The trailed off end of Kudou’s sentence was more pointed than any question could have been. Kaito readjusted his feet in what he probably would’ve tried to change from a nervous shuffle to something intentional-looking if he’d been his normal self. “Yeah. Rumors get around.”

Kudou nodded, still flipping through pictures on the screen. “And the first KID, did he know?”

Kaito hunkered down over his talons. “I… It’s not that I’d be bothered by you knowing, Meitantei. It’s just not an easy question, either.”

Kudou glanced sideways at him out of his peripheral vision. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, it’s fine. Honestly, KID, it’s not like I didn’t know it was a personal question.”

Kaito managed to croak out a laugh for that. “Fair enough, then. Maybe I’ll tell you another time.”

“I’d like that,” Kudou said simply. “I’d offer a trade, but you know my biggest one already.”

A trade again, Kaito thought. Just like the favor that might be the answer.

“Have you seen the original setting of the ring?” Kudou asked abruptly.

Kaito blinked out of his thoughts to peer at the screen. “I knew there had been one, but I never got to see a picture of it.”

“Well, here.” Kudou enlarged the photo. The image wasn’t of the gem itself — it was a picture looking up at the inside of the band — where the inscription would be.

“It’s a feather,” Kaito realized. “So someone at some point must’ve known what it could do.”

“Exactly,” Kudou agreed.”If we haven’t solved this by morning, I could go speak to the family and see if any of them know how it works.”

Kaito was briefly overwhelmed by gratitude that it was Kudou he had crashed into. The list of people who had gone out of their way to help Kaitou KID out of a bad spot was… not a long list. “Guess I’ll owe you big time after this,” he said aloud, wanting to acknowledge the amount of help Kudou was giving him without directly acknowledging it.

Kudou just snorted. “I stopped keeping track after I got my body back. The debt always seems to even itself in the end, one way or another.”

“That’s true,” Kaito said, feathers ruffling in agreement. That said, this conversation was doing nothing to dissuade him from thinking that they should try the favor route again.

Kudou made a faint noise of discovery. “Up for watching something? I found a documentary about amulets that feature animals.”

Kaito tried and failed to read the description on the screen. “Sure,” he said instead. “Are we watching it here?”

Kudou hummed consideringly. “Let’s swap to the actual TV,” he decided. “It has much better speakers.”

* * *

When Kudou sat on the TV-viewing couch, he sank in far enough that Kaito could no longer comfortably perch on his shoulder. Instead he settled on the cushion on the back of the couch — not particularly compatible with bird talons, but still an effective place to sit.

Or roost, he supposed. The film, predictably, was almost certainly a complete dud, just like every other promising research route Kaito had gone down since becoming KID. Unfortunately, it had just enough potentially pertinent information for Kaito to feel obligated to continue watching to the end just to confirm that it was an absolute waste of time.

He figured that if this all went on too long he’d just bother Akako until she actually divulged some useful information. It was usually an effective strategy.

On the screen, a no-nonsense anthropologist was explaining the spiritual importance of a carved piece of ivory. Kaito tilted his head, feathers ruffling. “How badly do you think they’re mangling the history on this one?” he asked. It was an annoyingly common phenomenon he’d run into while doing his own research. People liked to make up the weirdest stories to make their jewelry seem special.

Kudou shrugged distractedly, eyes still glued to the screen and chin cupped in his hand. “I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure the anthropologist is smuggling artifacts.”

Kaito definitely didn’t squawk. He just made a perfectly normal noise of vague startlement, that’s all. “Are you serious right now?”

“Yeah, look at the labeling on the cabinets behind her,” Kudou said, pointing at the background. He went on to point out several tiny details that were frankly too small for Kaito’s poor bird eyes to be able to see clearly. He comforted himself with the uncharitable thought that at least Kudou was squinting. “It’s not enough to be completely certain, and this was made long enough ago that it would probably be difficult to find the evidence now,” Kudou concluded, finally relaxing back into the cushion next to Kaito, “but I’d bet she sold at least three of the pieces in that display on the black market.”

“You just never stop, huh,” Kaito said, chuckling ruefully.

Kudou went still, visibly subdued. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Kaito hurried to reassure him. “I get it. Master thief extraordinaire, remember? You don’t get as good as I am without keeping a constant eye out for opportunities. If anything, I can’t believe you picked it up and I didn’t notice _anything._ ”

Kudou snorted, relaxing again and shifting closer on the sofa. “I bet you could already pick out five different ways of stealing the necklace she’s holding, though.”

“Smoke bomb, toss something in the corner behind her to make her turn and look at the noise, twist and switch the necklace,” Kaito answered promptly. “Or just wait for her to put it down and leave for the day, then climb in through the vents to retrieve it. Not exactly a Suzuki-level security system.”

“Ha. No kidding.” They settled in to watch the rest of the documentary, though to Kaito’s amusement the excitement seemed to be wearing off for Kudou. He started yawning about an hour in, and the frequency just kept picking up through the second half of the movie. Kudou would hate it, but it kind of reminded Kaito of the way Conan used to fall asleep pretty quickly after the late-night heists wound down.

Not that Kaito ever followed him home long enough to notice.

Okay, maybe he followed him home once or twice, but it was just because he was worried and wanted to make sure Conan was alright after the more harrowing heists, especially before he’d realized that the person behind the chibi-tantei’s form was the same age he was. Sue him, he had a soft spot for kids.

The yawns were cuter on the older version, though — as he thought it, Kudou yawned _wide,_ eyes squinting all the way shut, and Kaito had to suppress the urge to coo at him. Given his current form, it might be a more literal coo than he wanted.

He did shuffle a little bit closer, though, until he could lean against the side of Kudou’s head. His hair was coarse, unsurprising with that cowlick, and the texture was nice against Kaito’s feathers. Soothing, like a gentle scritch. He settled in and fluffed contentedly as the documentary host introduced the next piece of talismanic jewelry.

There were only about fifteen minutes left in the documentary — overall interesting but unhelpful; Kaito rated it two out of ten — when Kudou started snoring quietly. Kaito startled, feathers puffing, and craned his neck to check his face. Yep, sound asleep. There was even a sliver of drool dripping down his chin. Kaito chuckled softly and nudged the side of Kudou’s head.

No dice. Kudou’s head lolled, and it stopped the snoring, but he was out. “I can’t believe you didn’t even make it to one,” Kaito murmured, amused. He must have worn Kudou out during the heist.

The change in position did make it harder for Kaito to rest next to Kudou’s head, though, and he found he missed the warm comfort of his hair. Maybe if… Careful of his talons, Kaito picked his way across the back of the sofa and wedged himself in the hollow of Kudou’s shoulder. Perfect.

Warm, comfortable, and nestled against the steady beat of Kudou’s pulse, Kaito blinked drowsily at the television. He’d finish the last ten minutes and wake Kudou up, he decided. Sleeping out here wouldn’t do any of them good, but for now he was cozy and content.

Just ten minutes.

* * *

The pinging sound of a phone alert woke Kaito several hours later. He lifted his head and tried to process what he found around him. He was on a strange couch in a house that wasn't his, and…

The alert sounded again, and Kudou stirred with an annoyed grumble. Kaito flapped his wings in alarm, hopping up onto the arm of the couch instead, and, oh, right. He settled again, embarrassed at having startled so obviously.

"It's a text," Kudou said after a second. "Uh, it's a number I don't know, but I think it might be your friend from last night? It just says, _'He isn't at school. Did you really not solve it by now?'_ "

Kaito sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like her. Her name is Akako."

Kudou nodded and typed out a reply. "I'll just ask to confirm who she is," he told Kaito while he typed.

The reply beeped in moments later. "' _Yes, obviously. If you're really too idiotic even when working together to figure out a little bit of metaphorical language, I may as well just tell you the answer._ '"

Kaito craned his neck out at that, cocking his head to the side as he tried to get a look at the bright screen. "Is that it?"

A new message appeared even as he asked. "It says — ' _So long as he agrees to carry out the favor you desire from him, he will be restored as himself._ '"

Well. Kaito couldn't exactly say he was surprised.

Kudou hadn't looked up from the phone, even though there was nothing more to see there, and he wasn't typing out a reply. Kaito felt the same inkling of suspicion from yesterday coming back.

"Is it embarrassing, whatever it is you want to ask?" he tried. "I promise I won't laugh at you. Or — or if it's weird, or something, I won't hold it against you."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Kudou said finally. "It's — I can't think of anything else, but there has to be something better I could ask for. Something less…"

He trailed off without finishing his sentence, to Kaito's mild annoyance. He hopped off the arm and onto the cushions with another uncoordinated flap of his wings, which at least finally made Kudou look up and put his phone away.

"If I really won't want to do it, I can just say no," he reminded him. "And with that option out of the way, you can come up with a different idea, I'm sure. Would it really hurt to just ask?"

"It might hurt my dignity a little," Kudou muttered under his breath. "I… Don't laugh. I don't want you to think I'm — to think less of me, okay?"

"I won't," Kaito said instantly. He'd promise anything if it would make Kudou just spit it out already. "I won't laugh." He strongly suspected he wouldn't be nearly as put off as whatever it was Kudou was thinking. He'd seen some pretty weird shit in the last few years, after all. The depths of human strangeness could always sink to new levels, of course, but Kudou just wasn't weird enough of a person to be hiding some truly bizarre perversion or something.

Though the faint flush starting to creep across Kudou's face did make him wonder.

"Okay," he said at last. "Okay, I'll ask. Just — whatever."

Kaito did his best to look solemn and attentive, or as much as a bird could, anyway.

"It's not — something big, or time consuming," Kudou added, as if to justify his asking. "I only wondered if…" The blushing wasn't a half-bad look on him, but mostly it was just making Kaito wildly curious. "I wondered if I could kiss you."

The last words were delivered as a mumble, and Kaito gave him a few beats just to make sure nothing else was forthcoming.

"Is that it? Seriously?" Kaito couldn't keep all of his bemusement out of his voice, but most of it refrained from leaking through. "Uh, I would kiss literally anyone if it meant turning back. I mean, I would even kiss Akako, and I spent most of our early acquaintance trying to fervently avoid doing exactly that. At least you have a decent personality." He left a brief pause to add to the humor of the punchline. "Plus, you know, the devilishly handsome good looks that I am more than eager to get back."

Kudou did laugh, but it was a somewhat choked sound. "Really?" he asked. The blush hadn't gotten any better for having Kaito agree, but he supposed that made sense. It was an admittedly embarrassing thing to ask for, even if Kaito was secretly at least a little bit flattered. "Just like that?"

Kaito fluffed his feathers up in a vague imitation of a shrug. "Sure, why not?"

But agreeing hadn't yet made him miraculously change back in a shower of sparks, so Kaito hopped a few steps forward. "I… think you'll have to make do with it being while I'm like this, though. Sorry."

"It's fine," Kudou dismissed, and wow, he was _really_ blushing now, enough to stain most of his face darker. If Kaito had known he was shy like this, he would've taken so many more opportunities to fluster him before. "Um, should I… pick you up?"

"Go ahead." Kaito stepped onto Kudou's carefully extended palms and spread his wings for balance at the dizzying feeling of being lifted into the air. It was still so weird, being this small. He felt a renewed pang of sympathy for the year Kudou had spent as Conan.

"You can still back out," Kudou said, and he sounded genuinely nervous that Kaito was forcing himself to go through a heinous ordeal.

"Shut up and kiss me, Kudou," Kaito said with an unintentional but distinct air of fondness.

And he did.

Kaito, unfortunately, didn't really really manage to contribute much to the kiss. He was preoccupied by the rushing in his ears, like the sounds of a thousand wings all beating out of synch, and the hot-and-cold prickles that broke out over his skin at every place where a feather protruded. He shivered at the cold shock of it, wrapped his arms around Kudou's shoulders for balance, and broke the kiss to grin at him. "Hi. I'm super naked, aren't I."

"Very much so," Kudou agreed, hands carefully placed at a non-suggestive height on Kaito's waist. "It also looks like we ritually sacrificed a crow in here. You got feathers all over the couch."

"Oh, no," Kaito said, dropping a kiss on the tip of his nose, just to see Kudou flush and scowl all at once. "How _ever_ will I make it up to you?"

He shifted forward on his knees to give Kudou a _real_ kiss this time, and something hit the floor with a loud clunk.

Kaito took a deep breath. "That's the gem, isn't it."

Kudou twisted his leg to nudge it with his toes. "Well, I wouldn't take the losing bet that it isn't."

He heaved a pointed sigh. "Any chance I can convince you to ignore it?"

The laugh in Kudou's voice promised that maybe, just this once, he'd let it slide (as if he hadn't done so a dozen times before). "Well… You're welcome to _try_."


End file.
